Sport Tourism (no field available for International Sport Events in Phuket)

[alain7s]

Letter to Phuket Officials / Ministry of Sport / TAT...

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Dear Sir/Madam,

I am pleased to advise that the fourth (4th) Phuket International Soccer 7s will be held in Phuket island on the 25-26 November this year (Open & Masters categories), but as we have had a great deal of interest from teams we could hold another tournament (Open category only) on 18-19 November.

This annual tournament has been established to allow people to combine their love of sport with a holiday and some of its aims are to:
* Foster International sporting relationships
* Provide an opportunity for participants to experience international competition in the spirit of international friendship
* Promote Phuket as a sports tourism destination

We will have in excess of 600 participants come to Phuket for the tournament this year. In the past 3 years we estimate that in excess of 20 million baht has been injected into the local economy.

The Phuket tournament in its short time has become the biggest tournament of its kind in South East Asia. It receives excellent media exposure with TVs (Nokia Football Crasy from ESPN Star TV, The Nation TV, Pattaya People TV, Thai Channel TV5, UBC True); Newspapers (Bangkok Post, The Nation, Andaman Post, Pattaya Mail, Pattaya People Weekly, Phuket Gazette, Kick Off, Super Pull, Sportmen, Thansatakij...); Magazine publications (Asia & Away, Metro, Shakers & Movers, Football Asia, Thai Football, Big Chili, Sa-Bai Thailand, SportMag, Utamed Travel...); Radios (Virgin Radio HitZ, Virgin Radio Smooth, MCOT Metropolis...); & numerous articles on Internet websites.

Unfortunately, the future of this International Sport Event is in serious jeopardy as each year we have a huge problem in securing a playing field to hold our tournament. Each year we are forced to conduct the tournament at a different location. Last year it was held at the British International School. Unfortunately this year they are repairing their fields and they will not be available at the time of our tournament.

We urgently seek your assistance in ensuring that there is a suitable venue for our tournament to be held.

The economic benefit of this tournament to Phuket is huge but this will all be lost if we cannot secure a decent, safe playing field. Each year we are denied the opportunity to use Surakul stadium, and Karon Stadium and Sanam Chai have either no grass or a dangerous playing surface.

There is an International Cricket Tournament and an International Rugby Tournament that are also held in Phuket annually. They are faced with the same concerns.

To that end, we seek your support in order to ensure that a suitable playing venue is available for all these events.

I therefore, am requesting your assistance to ensure that a venue is made available to us or alternatively ensure that Karon stadium, in particular, is maintained or repaired before any of our events.

We feel that we do a great deal to promote Phuket island, not only as a holiday destination but also as an ideal location to conduct sporting events. That effort has injected a considerable sum into the Phuket economy and more importantly, has people returning to their country promoting Phuket as a result of their wonderful experience.

We hope that you feel that these international events are important to Thailand and that you value the efforts that are being made to attract tourists to Phuket. Your support is essential in order to ensure that this event will remain in Phuket and that we can feel comfortable in establishing future events for Phuket.

We look forward to your positive response and your future support.

Yours sincerely,

Alain Brulfert
Tournament Organiser
Vice-Chairman of the Asian 7-a-side Football Federation


* Official tournament website: www.thai7s.com
* More than 3,000 pictures from past tournaments: www.photos.thai7s.com
* Press and Media reports: www.media.thai7s.com

[alain7s]

Is someone know something about these pitches that was supposed to be built in Rawai? (see as below)
By the way I hear also about a new playing venue with soccer pitch located in Thalang area, not far from the hospital? Have you seen this place.
Thanks.

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from http://www.thaisnews.com/news_detail.php?newsid=138985
Andaman News TV11 & FM90.5 Phuket 8.30am Tuesday 9 August 2005

FIFA, the Federation International de Football Association, who arranged the Women’s Under 19 world cup in Phuket last year, has informed khun Eam Thavornwongwong, the President of the Phuket Sports Association and the Football Association of Thailand’s Secretary General khun Worawi Makudi that FIFA would support and fund the building of 2 new training pitches in Rawai district of Phuket. Khun Eam told Andaman News the pitches would be built on 12 rai of private land and include a clubhouse and associated facilities, all up to international standards, costing about 16 million baht. A signing ceremony would be held on the 25th of August and subject to building permission, the construction should begin this year.
Khun Eam also reported that Bolton Wanderers Football club from England, whose manager and 2 players recently visited Phuket, have agreed to fund the building of a football pitch for Rajapranok 36 school or the old Ban Kamala School and support training by certified coaches, through administrative assistance from the Phuket Christian Centre Church. The cost would be about 18 million baht. Both these projects will support tsunami affected areas and sports development in Phuket.

[alain7s]

No bias in bookings for Surakul Stadium: Anchalee

PHUKET: The President of the Provincial Administration Organization (OrBorJor), Anchalee Vanich-Thepabutr, has denied allegations that Surakul Stadium is for the use of Thais only, though the OrBorJor has rejected a request to hold the Phuket International Soccer 7s tournament, planned for November, in the Stadium.

“I know the organizers of the Phuket International Soccer 7s competition would like to hold it in Surakul Stadium. But the competition will last two whole days and will consist of many matches. That could damage the field, so we cannot permit it.

“If it is only for one day with a couple of matches involving two or four teams however, then maybe we can allow them to use the stadium,” K. Anchalee said.

When asked whether there was an anti-foreigner policy in allocating use of the stadium, K. Anchalee replied that the OrBorJor would carefully examine all requests to hold soccer tournaments at Surakul Stadium from both Thais and foreigners.

She added, however, “If the schedule is full or there is more than one request to use the stadium on the same date then domestic users will be given priority.”

K. Anchalee cited the Senior World Cup, held in April of this year, as an example of the stadium being used by foreigners.

She explained that she is not normally be involved in the decision-making process; a committee led by OrBorJor Vice-President Suthep Thepsakul manages the schedule for the stadium and decides whether to permit tournaments to be held there.

She added that match days at the stadium are followed by a few days of no play, to allow the grass pitch to recover. Anyone requesting to use the pitch during these rest periods would be turned down. This she surmised, might be the reason why some requests for use of the pitch by foreigners have been rejected.

Commenting on the controversy over the international Rugby 10s tournament earlier this year, which was also denied permission to use Surakul stadium, K. Anchalee explained that the OrBorJor had a no-rugby policy due to worries about it the damage to the turf.

“We didn’t even the allow the Ministry of Justice to play rugby on the field,” she said.

The OrBorJor did allow matches in the world’s first international 80-80 rugby tournament to be played at Surakul in August last year, though the Gazette understands that this was only after pressure from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

The Phuket Gazette